Review: Franco roars in a muddled 'Howl'

Befitting the epic (and epochal) writing at its core, Rob Epstein and
Jeffrey Friedman's "Howl" is a patchwork quilt meant to reflect the
shattered sensibilities, emotions and ideas contained in Allen
Ginsberg's famed (and infamous) 1955 poem about mental collapse and the
longing for visionary insight.

There is a lengthy reading
of the poem by actor James Franco, who is quite impressive as Ginsberg;
sometimes we see him, sometimes we see deflatingly literal and often
trite animated images suggested by Ginsberg's words. There are
re-enactments of the trial of Ginsberg's publisher, Lawrence
Ferlinghetti, on charges of obscenity. And there are excerpts from
interviews with Ginsberg talking about the poem, the culture and mind
that birthed it, and the hullabaloo of its release and reception. All of
these are chopped together in an all-time-is-one fashion that suits the
material but doesn't necessarily replace a narrative on the screen.

Franco
is rather astounding, looking and sounding plausibly like Ginsberg and
talking about complex ideas in a genuinely relaxed tone. But the
filmmaking isn't always as accomplished: the dopey animations, the
courtroom scenes that sometimes play like soap operas, an intermittent
sense of wandering. In fact, while it might seem like a film for experts
in Ginsberg or Beat Generation literature, I suspect that the people
for whom the words of "Howl" are completely new will get more out of the
picture.

NOTE: Gus Van Sant, who executive produced the film, will present the 7:00 pm showing on Friday, October 8. Plans for the evening include q-and-a, a screening of a film Van Sant made with the real Allan Ginsberg, and a Skype conversation on the big screen with James Franco.